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The Tempio Malatestiano (Italian Malatesta Temple) is the cathedral church of Rimini, Italy. Officially entitled to St. Francis, it takes the popular name from Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, who commissioned it reconstruction to the famous Renaissance theorist and architect Leon Battista Alberti c. 1450.

Contents 1 History 2 Overview 3 Evaluation 4 Sources 5 External links

San Francesco was originally a Gothic church belonging to the Franciscans. In the area was also a church called Santa Maria in Trivio ("Santa Maria of the Three Streets"), documented since the 9th century. The original church had a rectangular plan, without side chapels, with a single nave ending with three apses. The central one was probably frescoed by Giotto, to whom is also attributed the crucifix still visible today in the second right chapel.

Malatesta called on Alberti, as his first architectural work, to transform the building and make it into a kind of personal mausoleum for him and his lover and later wife, Isotta degli Atti. The execution of the project was handed over to the Veronese Matteo de' Pasti (died 1486), hired at the Estense court. Of Alberti's project, the cupola, similar to those of the Pantheon of Rome and intended to be among the largest in Italy, was never built. Also the upper part of the façade, which was supposed to include a gable end, was never finished as Malatesta's fortunes declined steeply after his excommunication in 1460. The two blind arcades at the side of the entrance were to house the tombs of Sigismondo Pandolfo and Isotta, which instead are now in the interior.

Works for the renovation of the nave began some five years before those of the façade. Marble for the work was taken from the Roman ruins in Sant'Apollinare in Classe (near Ravenna) and Fano.

The church is immediately recognizable from its wide marble façade, decorated by sculptures probably made by Agostino di Duccio and Matteo de' Pasti. Alberti aspired to antiquity, though not directly to Pagan temples: as in the later Basilica di Sant'Andrea in Mantua, the façade is indeed modelled to the ancient triumphal archs, one of which is Rimini itself (see Arch of August). The large arcades on the sides are reminiscent of the Roman aqueducts.

The main portal has a triangular fronton with geometrical decorations. In the interior, under the large arcades on the right side, are seven chapels with the tombs of illustrious Riminese citizens, including that of the philosopher Gemistus Pletho, whose remains were brought back by Sigismondo Pandolfo from his wars in the Balkans. The left side has no chapels (outside is a 16th century bell tower).

Immediately the right of the main door is Sigismondo Pandolfo's sepulchre. The next chapel is dedicated to St. Sigismund, patron of the soldiers (Sigismondo Pandolfo was a renowned condottiero), and has fine sculptures by Agostino di Duccio. There is also a fresco by Piero della Francesca portraying Malatesta kneeling before the saint (1451). The following chapel (Cappella degli Angeli) houses the tomb of Isotta and the Giotto crucifix, allegedly painted during his sojourn in Rimini of 1308-1312.

The next chapel is the Cappella dei Pianeti ("Chapel of the Planets"), dedicated to St. Jerome. The zodiacal figures are by Agostino di Duccio. It houses also an interesting panorama of Rimini as it was in 15th century. Then comes the Chapel of Liberal Arts, with di Duccio's portrayal of Philosophy, Rhetoric and Grammar. The subsequent Chapel of the Childhood Games houses the tombs of Sigismondo Pandolfo's first wives, Ginevra d'Este and Polissena Sforza, encircled by 61 figures of young angels playing and dancing, again by di Duccio.

The bodies of some Malatesta's ancestors are housed in the Cappella della Pietà, with 2 statues of prophets and 10 of Sibyls. The chapel, like numerous other places in the church, is characterized by the presence of the SI monogram (from the initial of Sigismondo and Isotta's names, or, according to others, the first two letters of the former) sporting a rose, an elephant and three heads.

Due to the strong presence of elements referring to the Malatesta's history, and to Sigismondo Pandolfo himself (in particular, his lover Isotta), the church was considered by some contemporaries to be an exaltation of Paganism. Pope Pius II, Sigismondo's deadliest enemy, declared it as "full of Pagan Gods and profane things"[1].

• Cricco, Giorgio; Francesco P. Di Teodoro (1996). Itinerario nell'arte. Zanichelli. 

• Tempio Malatestiano di Rimini (Italian)